[alt-photo] Re: Question for Platinum/Palladium printers

[Nelson Mark]

Dear List,

Boy, every time I would start to write a thanks for the responses, I would fine another response!  I appreciate everyone's feedback.  Obviously the list is still very responsive and full of good information from a lot of people!  By the way, I posted the same exact question 3 places on Facebook and got only a few responses and very little discussion.  People tend to only post their work there.

My reason for posting this question was a phone call I had recently with Dick Arentz.  He mentioned that he had some correspondence from someone who was doing a summer internship at the Art Institute in Chicago.  The project had to do with testing the archival qualities of their Pt/Pd collection.  If I remember Dick's comment correctly, they were concerned because the prints didn't turn out to be quite as archival as they thought.  I would love to get more information from them about that.  Anyone have a contact there?  I have a membership and was thinking of making an appointment with the Photography department there and seeing if they would talk about what they found out more specifically.  It sounds like from what folks have said here that many of these prints might have been cleared with HCL, however regardless of method, there is always the chance of error or sloppiness.

Bob, did you get the info I sent you regarding the Iron Gall Test paper?Iron Gall Ink Test Paper - Preservation Equipment

Eric, thanks for that history of workflows.  That was very informative.  What is the test for iron you referred to that might leave a blue stain? 

Has anyone tried the Iron Gall Test? That shows a red stain.

I remember a conversation with Sandy King a few years ago and he mentioned that one thing he always watches is how well his prints clear in the developer.  That has always stuck with me.  In addition, I do find that the prints clear some during the initial water rinse after developer at my studio.  I know this is a problem for some folks with slightly alkaline tap water.  

In general, while it appears that there are a number of workflows that are working fine for different folks, there is not a whole lot of change in practice in recent years.  True?

Thanks again to everyone for your responses.

Happy New Year!

Best Wishes,
Mark Nelson

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On Jan 2, 2012, at 8:52 AM, EJ Photo wrote:

> Well, the clearing of prints has indeed evolved over time. When I first
> learned to print, it was HCL all the way; three baths, all mixed the same,
> use it so that the last one was clear - no color. And yes, the first bath
> would indeed get cloudy and colored so later in my practice I cleared with
> distilled water rinse, then acid.  Citric Acid, Oxalic acid had their place,
> but HCL was cheap and did the job. Along came the late 80, and early
> nineties and I saw Ware's paper on pt/pd printing, and hear of additional
> uses of EDTA, sodium sulfite. These are both in hypo clearing agent and did
> seem to make some sense. 
> 
> Progressive baths from disodium to tetrasodium EDTA moves from acid to
> basic. One need only feel the paper after a clearing in HCL compared to EDTA
> and other acid to know that the paper structure was changed by the HCL; it
> is now stiffer.  Having had many conversations and seeing prints at John
> Stevenson's Gallery in Santa Fe, Platinum Plus many of us moved away from
> straight HCL or acids to less aggressive clearing agents. Some of that old
> time staining was part of the print, at least for those made in the early
> period of printing and those selling them were not bothered by it. 
> 
> How clear is clear and at what cost to the paper? 
> 
> Tests on your process can be done with sample prints to avoid the blue stain
> that comes with many of the residual test.    
> 
> Eric Neilsen
> Eric Neilsen Photography
> 4101 Commerce Street, Suite 9
> Dallas, TX 75226
> 
> www.ericneilsenphotography.com
> skype me with ejprinter
> Let's Talk Photography
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org
> [mailto:alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org] On Behalf Of
> etienne garbaux
> Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 4:48 PM
> To: The alternative photographic processes mailing list
> Subject: [alt-photo] Re: Question for Platinum/Palladium printers
> 
> Loris wrote:
> 
>> I remember to read that HCl severes some of the H bonds in the 
>> cellulose molecule, that's no good - especially in the context of 
>> pt/pd printing, where the image is stronger than the support.
> 
> Again, all of the antique Pt prints that were cleared in HCl and to 
> this day show no apparent degradation of the paper suggest that, at 
> the very least, any macro damage from the practice can be held to 
> imperceptible levels with careful processing.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> etienne
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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